This year, the agency is on course to continue that spending pattern, Petras said. This fiscal year, TxDOT has $913,000 to spend on toll road advertising — $111,000 of which has already been spent.

“I think there’s just a tight with their money,” she said. “If there’s not an important message that needs to go out, they don’t spend the money.”

The agency’s toll road advertisements focus on maps with routes and instructions on paying tolls, especially for first-time toll road drivers. Safety and other PSAs campaigns are additional expenses for the agency.

“Toll roads are like a business, and the more marketing you can put into driving on [them] the more revenue it drives,” she said. “Marketing effiorts are centered around letting the public know how to get on the road, what you do when your there.”